2011: 55,765 employees, sales $19,116.3M – $343K per employee
At the same 10X evaluation SAP would be worth $191B — however today their market cap is $70B
Clearly, SAP is willing to pay a premium for Ariba based on the network business model (which is figuring prominently as an early theme on the SAP/Ariba analyst and media conference call). While the early details of the execution plan remain sparse so far, SAP is clearly excited about the “cloud-based business network,” as they put it on the call. Stay tuned as our analysis continues.

Obsessed with how companies manage, spend and save money, Jason writes about procurement, trade and supply chain issues @ Spend Matters. He has significant first hand experience developing and marketing technology and services products, has advised numerous companies on sourcing and related techniques as well as M&A pursuits. In previous lives before tech, he was a management consultant and merchant banking analyst.